The Fox Inn is owned and run by the local community and staffed by volunteers. The pub re-opened in 2016, following a ten-year closure.
“It really was a shell of a building they took on,” says Chris Foulds who, despite being retired, is now one of eight directors who carry out the day-to-day management of the pub.
“It had been completely gutted, there had been fires, floods and everything had been stripped out of it.”
Chris’s main role is looking after the cellar and the beers, for which he draws on experience from his first-ever job at brewers Watney, Mann, and Truman and many years in the food industry. He also does the buying for the pub.
“Our main selling point in the pub is our real ale offering,” he explains. “We usually have six real ales on most of the time and we tend to use local breweries.
East Anglia is about as far as we go for suppliers.”
This successful community pub team found they were wasting time cleaning their own lines – and needed to train everyone as nobody involved had previously run a pub.
It was quite onerous trying to do it every week and it was wasting volunteer’s time by keeping them away from the face-to-face pub work.
“There was no one really with experience of line cleaning,” says Chris. The team cleaned the lines to the best of their ability but lacked confidence and worried about taints and spoiled beer.
“It was quite onerous trying to do it every week and it was wasting volunteer’s time by keeping them away from the face-to-face pub work.”
“They did quite a bit of face-to-face training at that time and Avani took a lot of volunteers through how to pour a pint and how to look after the cellar as well….”
The Fox signed up to extended beer line cleaning from Avani Solutions and a Beer Quality Technician visits the venue every 28 days. They carry out a full diagnostic process on the dispense system to identify any issues and clean the beer lines, including cellar equipment, backboard, and the taps at the bar.
It takes less than two hours, once every four weeks. If we were still trying to do it ourselves weekly, it would take us three hours minimum to do it and probably more.
“When I heard that they only had to come in every four weeks, I couldn’t believe it really. Not to start with, but it obviously works,” says Chris.
“It’s simply a very efficient service. I know when the technician is coming, so I try and sort of wind down a few things so he can get at more things, but he lets himself in, does the job, locks up after himself and if there’s anything that needs attention, they’ll report it.
“It takes less than two hours, once every four weeks.
If we were still trying to do it ourselves weekly, it would take us three hours minimum to do it and probably more.”
The time ProClean saves the team at The Fox Inn on a weekly basis is equivalent to one shift worked by a volunteer.
Thanks to Avani’s Innsights Dashboard they can also quickly and easily keep an eye on beer quality and know when a clean has taken place.
The Beer Quality Technician also notes any equipment that needs attention on the visit report. Repairs and maintenance needs can be addressed early to prevent bigger problems later.
This means the pub team is free to serve customers and get on with other critical aspects of running the venue, while still being able to provide perfect pints.
“In my time involved with the pub, I really haven’t had any complaints about beer quality,” says Chris.
“You get the odd real ale that somebody doesn’t like, and you get the odd one that doesn’t clear, or maybe it’s supposed to be cloudy, but overall, we’ve had no quality complaints at all.”
The pub team is free to serve customers and get on with other critical aspects of running the venue, while still being able to provide perfect pints.
He gives an example of how a problem, that could have led to a quality issue, was spotted during an Avani visit:
“They found one of the attachments to one of the real ales casks had cracked. I guess I would’ve found that myself, but I’d probably have found it on Friday evening just before service!
He adds why he’s such a fan of Avani ProClean.
“Knowing they come in once every four weeks and do a thorough clean, you can forget about it. You know it’s done, and you don’t even have to think about it. It gives you complete and absolute confidence.”
ProClean is a comprehensive beer line, cellar, and bar cleaning service that protects beer quality and improves hygiene from keg to tap. Use our handy savings calculator to find out how much ProClean could save you.
